Pradeep Ranganathan, who has a knack for taking up roles that fit his lean frame and unique body language, is back with his new film, Dude. Produced by Mythri Movie Makers, the movie hit the screens recently (October 17, 2025) with a love story told in a new way. But does this unconventional narrative work? Let’s see.
Dude Movie Plot
The story revolves around Gagan (Pradeep Ranganathan) who is deeply in love with Amudha (Neha Shetty). But Amudha marries someone else and leaves Gagan clueless about the reason. Gagan is the son of Minister Adikesavulu’s (Sarathkumar) sister (Rohini) who is estranged from him – they live in the same village but don’t speak.
Meanwhile Adikesavulu who places importance on family honor and prestige for his political career dotes on his motherless daughter Kundana (Mamitha Baiju). Kundana falls in love with Gagan her cousin and wants to marry him. Gagan isn’t interested at first but later realizes his love for her.
The twist comes when Gagan approaches Kundana and is told she has given her heart to Parthu. When Adikesavulu finds out Parthu is not from their caste he forbids the marriage and insists Kundana must marry Gagan. But Gagan driven by Kundana’s happiness decides to fight for her to marry Parthu instead. The rest of the film deals with the challenges Gagan faces in this and the back story of the family rift between Adikesavulu and his sister.
Our Take: Too Far from Reality?
A line from the hero sums up the film’s philosophy: “If you deal with a matter in life with your left hand, life will deal with you with its left hand”. The movie tries to convey the truth that what is lost doesn’t come back the same way.The director Keerthiswaran has tried to be different. But the uniqueness of the story feels far from reality. It’s understandable for a hero to want his loved one to be happy even if she doesn’t love him back. It’s fine to accept her decision and move on. But Gagan goes a step further, risking his life in a series of “installment” sacrifices to make her happy with another man. This level of selflessness is so extreme that it’s hard for the audience to connect with his struggle. In fact compared to a previous Telugu film with a similar premise the story of Dude looks conventional.
Performance and Technicals
The lead actors have done their job. Sarathkumar, Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju are good. Pradeep Ranganathan perhaps to avoid body shaming comments spends a lot of time in the opening scenes shirtless.
Technically Niketh Bommi’s camera work is good and Sai Abhyankar’s background score is impressive and sets the mood. But the songs are not memorable and the lyrics of the first song is hard to follow. Bharath Vikraman’s editing is okay.
Final Word
In a typical love story, the audience roots for the hero and heroine to end up together. Here, the hero fights for the heroine to win a life without him. The question is, will audiences truly embrace a hero who selflessly fights for the happiness of a woman who doesn't love him? If this extreme form of sacrifice is the current trend, then there's no issue with Dude. Otherwise, the film’s distance from relatable reality makes it a challenging watch.
 Movie Review — A Different Kind of Love Story){kind=link}
0 Comments